Growing cannabis for medicinal and scientific purposes came a step closer to legislation in Australia, as ministers announced planned changes in legislature. The office of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced that the Australian state will implement a legal framework around legal medicinal cannabis.

Statewide sales are set to commence by 2017, with children suffering severe epilepsy granted priority access. The specific state legislation is yet to be written, and permission has not been granted by the federal government.

The licensing and regulation of growers will fall to the Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources, with a new office to be formed beneath their umbrella. Victoria will become the first Australian state to allow the manufacture and sale of products containing THC – though the state of South Australia opened the way in 1987 by decriminalizing low-level marijuana offenses.

Over 246,000 signed a petition on Change.org to allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes, alleging that it wasn’t fair to criminalize people using the drug to get through their diseases.

Lucy Haslam, a retired nurse whose son Daniel used cannabis to ease the pain of cancer before dying at age 25, initiated this petition. Can you believe that? a Nurse!

Lucy Haslam said she considered the announcement as a victory though she hopes that it means to help patients to get the medicine when they need it, according to CNN.

On the other hand, Australia’s Government emphasized that this announcement doesn’t bring to the table the debate of the use marijuana for recreational purposes.